October 2009

October 31, 2009

The iconic and infamous cover the walls at the Brooklyn Museum's fine exhibition (on view till January 31, 2010), “Who Shot Rock & Roll.” Yes you will see many old favorites, like John Lennon wearing a New York City sleeveless tee in Bob Gruen's contact sheet from the familiar 1974 shoot. You will see him again in Richard Avedon's 1967 formal portraits of the Beatles, their mop hair newly coiffed. And again in Allan Tannenbaum's shot of John and Yoko in bed, NYC, 1980 just two weeks before he died. The text explains that Lennon liked Tannenbaum's work: “You really capture Yoko's beauty.” And that sums up the essence of this show's raison d'etre as curated by Gail Buckland who also edited the excellent catalogue, to focus on the photographers, how the subject inspired them and the photographic arts . What fascinates is remembering the B-52's as in George DuBose's 1978 photograph, or Ike and Tina in Memphis in 1962, as in Ernest C. Withers' photo that shows Ike's eagle eye trained on her wailing at the mike, or Amy Arbus' 1983 black & white Madonna in a boxy coat before Kabbalah and before she was buff juxtaposed with the dizzying 2001 “Madonna I” by Andreas Gursky emphasizing the pop star in the marketplace, that is, 15 combined exposures taken over a period of days from the same vantage point at the same moment in a concert with a tiny well-lit singer to the bottom left, when lights flash, confetti falls, and people hang upside down from scaffolding mechanically lowered from the stage. Epic-scale, monumental, the celestial shot overwhelms. Buddy Holly on the bus in a 1958 Lew Allen photo, Dennis Hopper's James Brown in 1964, a wistful Elvis at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis by Lloyd Shearer in 1956, David Gahr's 1968 Janis Joplin, Jill Furmanovsky's Joy Division in 1979 and her 1977 Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen, Ray Stevenson's Sex Pistols on Carnaby Street in 1976, William “Popsie” Randolph's shot of the Brooklyn Paramount where Alan Freed staged his rock and roll shows in 1955, Godlis' 1976 Patti Smith outside CBGB and Stephanie Chernikowski's 1978 “Debbie Harry CBGB NYC” take you down Memory Lane. On opening night last Thursday, the museum featured photographer Josh Cheuse DJing, while many of the photographers-Godlis, Marcia Resnick, Bob Gruen, Allan Tannenbaum among them-- milled about with a film crew in tow. Bob Gruen had a birthday party a few nights before where Bebe Buell performed songs from her new CD “Sugar” with Ronnie Spektor in attendance. On this night, with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame celebrating across the river, the Brooklyn Museum rocked with Blondie: Debbie Harry in black wig and black satin suit with red glitter, performing her hits: “Call Me,” “Heart of Glass,” and “One Way or Another;” her cover of Michael Jackson's “Don't Stop” was evocative, like the rest of this show, of a rich, remarkable, and resonant music history.

October 28, 2009

Longtime Michael Jackson friend Elizabeth Taylor weighed in on This Is It, twittering: it is the brilliant movie of all time. Well, if your mother insists you are beautiful, do you believe her? This time, Liz may have a point. Last night, all screens at the Regal Theater multiplex on 42 Street were packed for Michael Jackson's This Is It, comprised of rehearsal footage of the London concerts that would never to be performed. New York was one of 15 cities worldwide where the movie premiered simultaneously. Music moguls like Clive Davis, movie people like Spike Lee, as well as folks who had won tickets on the radio attended. By the end, several journalists who had followed and critiqued the various scandals and family disputes surrounding the pop star were elated, proclaiming Michael Jackson's artistic genius. Kenny Ortega, Jackson's collaborator on the ill-fated London concerts and "This Is It" director, scored big time. "This Is It" is a hit, featuring Jackson's signatus here songs: "Beat It," "Thriller" (staged as a horror film), "Billie Jean," as well as the behind the scenes decision made regarding every aspect including casting, lighting, costuming, etc. Early on, the movie resembles "A Chorus Line," as back up dancers and singers speak about the work, and just being on stage with Michael Jackson. Ortega's finely edited documentary makes you realize not only how alive and well MJ was in planning his extravagant come back, but how top of his form he was during this period so near to his death. His moves even when he is standing still, his rehearsal clothes, his unique voice, his humility in talking to the cast and crew: God Bless, he says gently over and over. He was crafting a message to the world, about ecology and saving our planet, and everyhere his message included the word LOVE.You might say "This Is It" sugar coats this iconic figure, but it also says much about his considerable contribution to the world. Bravo!

October 27, 2009

The Year of Magical Thinking, a one-woman play based on Joan Didion's 2005 memoir of the same name, was a hit on Broadway in 2007, directed by David Hare. On Monday, the play was reprised for a farewell performance by the premiere actress of her generation Vanessa Redgrave, who as fate would have it inhabits the role in a most ironic way. Centered on the year when Didion lost both her husband, the writer John Gregory Dunne, and her beloved daughter Quintana, the play could resonate with anyone's loss, but Redgrave was meant to perform it just when her daughter Natasha Richardson died in a freak accident skiing with her sons, and it made last night's benefit for UNICEF at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine even more poignant. Vanessa Redgrave spoke the words of Joan Didion, explaining, magical thinking is when you decide not to throw away the deceased's shoes, as he will need them when he returns. It's a trick of the mind, a cushion if you will, against the full impact of the unbearable. A performance by a string ensemble, young musicians from the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, created by Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said to promote a dialogue among Israelis, Palestinians and other Arabs, preceded the play. At the evening's end, both Redgrave and Didion took bows, each overwhelmed by roses. The audience: Lynn Redgrave, Wallace Shawn, Christine Baranski among those in the cavernous church, as well as another premiere actress of her generation, Meryl Streep, hung back for a while, unable to leave. Stephen Daldry observed of Redgrave, “She is one strong woman.” That goes for Joan Didion too.

October 26, 2009

If the view from under the Brighton Beach el is not quite today's world vision, it offers a nostalgia trip to the late1930's that is worth glimpsing, especially through Neil Simon's round lenses. The subject of Brighton Beach Memoirs, directed by David Cromer, is a budding writer's coming of age. Eugene Morris Jerome, a stand-in for the playwright played by Noah Robbins, a young actor who somewhat resembles Adrien Brody if he were a nerd, narrates the story of his family as he, post-Bar Mitzvah, still home, ventures toward young manhood. He is aided along the way by parents at a time when father knew best, and mother, worried and fed her brood-as fits their economy, liver and lima beans. From an upstairs bedroom in the two-story house, a set beautifully designed by John Lee Beatty, Eugene's brother Stanley (in an excellent performance by Santino Fontana) coaches his younger brother in the fine arts of masturbation and voyeurism, particularly centered around their cousin who along with her mother and sister is now living with them. A war on the other side of the world threatens to provide them with yet another set of relatives escaping Hitler, and you know that this household, though scrapping along between paychecks, would accommodate the expansion. The story follows the rhythms of each character, Eugene's widowed aunt, Blanche (performed winningly by Woody Allen veteran Jessica Hecht), the young sickly Laurie (Gracie Bea Lawrence) studying for her history test, her older sister Nora (Alexandra Socha) headed for Broadway, or probably not, as she goes out at all hours sporting red lipstick. Stanley, himself trying to figure out his next moment, may join the army, and while the upstairs bedrooms and porch provide places for family members to converse and conspire, all come together at the dinner table, where Eugene drops his napkin, the better to see what's under Nora's skirt, and where the others succeed or fail to speak their mind. Overseeing all is Kate Jerome (a good Laurie Metcalf in a role made famous by Linda Lavin) whose illogical logic as mom, through Simon's one- liners and a lot of rolling eyeball, is often the butt and source of the play's abundant humor. You see the hardship of this quintessential Jewish mother in her calculated shtick. But you wish for more warmth, a heimish-je ne sais quoi quality in Jewish family life that is missing and necessary to make this batter leaven and rise. Needless to say, Eugene finally sees the peaks of the Himalayas. You may think you know what this means but see the play to get the full funny impact. In November, this revival will play in repertory with its sequel, Broadway Bound, and I for one can't wait.

October 24, 2009

The anticipation for Memphis, a new musical with an original book, was palpable. As far as Broadway musicals go, it's been a long season of revivals. But, despite its entertaining, energetic appeal, Memphis sounds like something you've heard before. Take a bit of Hairspray (crossing the race divide in music) and sprinkle with Dreamgirls (black showgirl on the rise) and you get the genre. The music by Bon Jovi's David Bryan and Joe DiPietro evokes period rock, blues and gospel, managing to miss the real Memphis, especially its sound in the '50's, aching with themes of interracial romance and cultural change. Martin Luther King Jr. died in Memphis. Memphis was Stax Records' home. Failing to utilize the unique Memphis sound is a big mistake, a failed opportunity that makes you wonder why the talents who put together this show chose this historically rich city at all. Still, Chad Kimball winningly plays Huey Calhoun, a white boy who stumbles into a Beale Street black saloon one night lured by the sound. There he meets the love of his life, a fired up singer named Felicia (Montego Glover), her brother Delray (J. Bernard Calloway) who owns the joint, and a bartender Gator (Derrick Baskin), silent after seeing his father lynched. After following his passion for this music, transgressive for the time, Huey becomes the number one DJ at the radio station where he befriends James Monroe Iglehart as Bobby, a janitor whose dancing is especially good, defying his robust figure. Over all, Sergio Trujillo's choreography soars. Huey's mother (Cass Morgan) is not too keen on her son's fixation with the black subculture but by Act II, she's joined their church. On opening night, the legendary ducks from Memphis's Peabody Hotel were imported for publicity, providing a nod to that great American city. To know its authentic musical history, though, see D. A. Pennebaker's documentary, Only the Strong Survive: Rufus Thomas and his daughter Carla, now that's Memphis.

October 21, 2009

What can you say about a woman who vanishes in the proverbial thin air? The mysteries about the remarkable Amelia Earhart and her disappearance in 1937 with her navigator Fred Noonan (Christopher Eccleston) over the Pacific Ocean persist and make ideal fodder for biographies and biopics. As Amelia, in the new movie directed by Mira Nair, Hilary Swank sports a boyish haircut that reminds us of her Oscar winning role in Boys Don't Cry. Earhart is the ideal and idealized woman of her time, a role model for young aviatrixes, and women everywhere. When asked for advice, she says, Don't let anyone turn you around, a great message for anyone gifted with her passion. Aside from flying, she also has a knack for finding wonderful, enabling men: her husband George Putnam (Richard Gere still a heartthrob with silver hair) and lover Gene Vidal (a debonair Ewan McGregor). Yes, there is a cameo of his son, the young Gore Vidal, but my favorite is scene-stealing Cherry Jones as Eleanor Roosevelt when Amelia takes the first lady for a midnight spin. The movie features many in air scenes of canyons, deserts, gorgeous views galore shot in radiant light, as well as the pilots in their storm-hounded cockpits. Also highlighted is how Amelia Earhart was marketed in her time, posing for clothing ads in trendy plaid shirts and jumpsuits, endorsing a line of luggage. That aspect of her career was underscored at the movie's world premiere on Tuesday night with an afterparty at Bloomingdale's also sponsored by Vanity Fair. Celebrants-Harry Connick Jr. and Julie Taymor among them--filed past the purses, ascended the escalator to the third floor, and munched on hors d'ouevres amidst the Missonis. Fashions worn by the fictional Earhart were on display. This glossy film works best as a romance thrillingly propelled by the tragic irony of the lead's demise. Hilary Swank is surely on her way to well-deserved nominations and awards for her performance. As a portrait of a historic figure, Amelia Earhart remains elusive, flawlessly imagined, and as vapid as the mists.

October 16, 2009

The revival ofDavid Mamet's 1992 Oleanna in current production at the Golden Theater stars one of my favorite actors Bill Pullman whose elastic face and frenetic movements are on full display in this theatrical pas de deux with the patrician, cool Julia Stiles. They play John, a professor on the verge of tenure and closing on a new house, and Carol, a student who is failing his class. As with all Mamet's plays-most recently seen in last year's superb production of “Speed the Plow”-the subject is language, the rapid fire staccato of one liners, half completed words, thoughtful and thoughtless arguments that make up contemporary conversation, confrontation, and conflict. Oleanna became topical in its day as it coincided with the Clarence Thomas/ Anita Hill contretemps, which was its good fortune and bad. Something is lost when Mamet is used to exemplify sociology or current events. Post scandal for 2009, Oleanna has been resurrected to examine these issues anew. That seems to be the premise of the talk-backs scheduled at play's end to engage the audience with issues of possible sexual harassment. Whose side are you on? Experts-in legal fields, psychiatry, want us to engage in this discourse as led by the jovial comic radio host Lionel last night. (Other hosts will fare otherwise, I'm sure.) Well, I am on the side of good theater. I am also drawn to Bill Pullman who, even when his character is rudely and tragically taking calls on his cell phone instead of giving Carol her due attention, is still mesmerizing, a good reason to see this play. A confession, I never understood how Meg Ryan's character could abandon him in “Sleepless in Seattle.” In “A League of Their Own,” I understood Geena Davis' character leaving baseball when he returns from war. And, when Sandra Bullock's character falls for him in “While You Were Sleeping,” I was already there. The eminent culture critic Greil Marcus in his book “The Shape of Things to Come” waxes poetic on the subject of Bill Pullman's face in David Lynch's masterpiece, “Lost Highway.” Pullman, for his part, is as proud of the fine work he does in theater as he is in the romantic comedies for which he is best known: he performed on Broadway in Edward Albee's “Who is Sylvia? or The Goat” and more recently in “Peter and Jerry,” and wrote a play that was produced in San Francisco. Not surprising, in person his face is extraordinarily expressive as he enthuses about his roles. In the movie “Bottle Shock,” for example, he said about shooting one pivotal scene in which lacking a corkscrew, he assails a bottle with an unsheathed scabbard. The bottle was scored, he said, and at first the top just flipped over limply instead of flying off with gusto. That's an apt image for this play: veering off Mamet's prodigious verbal strength, even at the end when John and Carol get physical, this Oleanna has the same flat effect.

October 05, 2009

Beat era poet Ira Cohen eloquently sets the mood for Abel Ferrara's new movie, Chelsea on the Rocks about the legendary hotel on 23rd Street, reciting his own verse. Ferrara, the downtown filmmaker who recently made Go Go Tales, one of the hits of last year's New York Film Festival, seems to want to mark the end of an era showing how the hotel is turning a corner from being a haven for down and out artists, writers and rock stars, and a locus for anyone coming to town with a yearning for bohemia or just wanting to be hip, to becoming a cash cow for a new set of corporate type owners. Famously, Sex Pistol's Sid Vicious killed Nancy Spungeon there, and then killed himself. What was it like in those glamorous years? Tenants used to say, you didn't want to share an elevator with this pair. They just might fall on you. Including interviews with Dennis Hopper, Raymond Foye, Zev Greenfield and others, the film is more a tableau of a historically rich and hash feuled milieu akin to the Beat Hotel in Paris in the late '50's and early '60's than a traditional documentary. Prior hotelier and art lover Stanley Bard famously gave Ethan Hawke a free room when his marriage to Uma Thurman broke up. The nostalgic mood is, we will never see his like again.

A photo of William S. Burroughs with Andy Warhol hanging out at the Chelsea is resonant. This marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Burroughs's iconic Naked Lunch. This guru of the beat movement will be feted at St. Mark's Church, New York University, Columbia University and School of Visual Arts., and will feature a group reading by Genesis P. Orridge, John Giorno, and Simon Pettet on Wednesday at St. Mark's Church, a panel of Burroughs influenced writers on Thursday at NYU including Penny Arcade and Jurgen Ploog. On Friday, Columbia University presents an exhibition of manuscripts at Butler Library as well as panels featuring biographer Barry Miles and Grove Press publisher Barney Rosset who first put out the outrageous Naked Lunch in America. On Saturday, at Visual Arts Theater on 23 Street, a film program including the East Coast premiere of the Danish documentary Words of Advice and excerpts from Alan Govenar's Beat Hotel is followed by performers and poets: Anne Waldman, Eric Anderson, and Michael McClure. Saturday Night Live's Hal Willner brings surprise guests to the table, hosted by yours truly. For more information: www.nakedlunch.org.